King Lear: The Quarto and Folio Texts (Pelican Shakespeare Series)

by William Shakespeare, Stephen Orgel (Editor), Stephen Orgel (Introduction), A. R. Braunmuller (Editor)

Overview

"I feel that I have spent half my career with one or another Pelican Shakespeare in my back pocket. Convenience, however, is the least important aspect of the new Pelican Shakespeare series. Here is an elegant and clear text for either the study or the rehearsal room, notes where you need them and the distinguished scholarship of the general editors, Stephen Orgel and A. R. Braunmuller who understand that these are plays for performance as well as great texts for contemplation." (Patrick Stewart)

The distinguished Pelican Shakespeare series, which has sold more than four million copies, is now completely revised and repackaged.

Each volume features:
* Authoritative, reliable texts
* High quality introductions and notes
* New, more readable trade trim size
* An essay on the theatrical world of Shakespeare and essays on Shakespeare's life and the selection of texts

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780140714906
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/28/2000
Series:	Pelican Shakespeare Series
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	154,901
Product dimensions:	5.06(w) x 7.72(h) x 0.66(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

No writer will ever equal William Shakespeare's influence on the English language. Born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, "The Bard" was an actor and playwright who had staged his own shows in London by 1592. Though little is known about his early life, he forsooth proved himself a virtuoso for the ages. Expanding the boundaries of the English language, Shakespeare penned dozens of plays -- from enduring tragedies like Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and Othello, to bawdy comedies like A Midsummer Night's Dream -- plus more than 150 sonnets during his towering career. He shuffled off this mortal coil in 1616, but more than half a millennium later, his works are still read and produced around the world, including at a modern thatched-roof reconstruction of his troupe's Globe Theatre in London.

Editorial Reviews

Penguin released several top-shelf installations in its fab revamped "Pelican Shakespeare" series during 2000 but none more regal than this dual volume, which offers both the 1608 version of Lear as master Will originally wrote it and the edited-down 1623 version that we all know. Two texts plus a scholarly introduction and notes for under $5 make this the literary bargain of the year--compliments to Penguin for offering the Pelicans at prices affordable by all. (Classic Returns, LJ 3/1/00) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

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